A blue pill
by 0.witnesses
Summary: What the f*ck happened last night? Where are we? Who are you? How did we get here? Lucaya AU


His headache was just starting to set on the base of his neck. The air felt hot and heavy, he could feel the sweat running down on his back, even though he wasn't dancing like the others. The rapidly changing lights had him blinded and they didn't help with the pain in his head. But the worst part was the noise, the heart pounding beat of a song in spanish that everyone could recognize and tried to sing, only to fail miserably.

Lucas didn't want to be there, he told Zay he didn't want to be there. He repeated over and over again how he wasn't ready to go out, it had only been three months since he had broken up with his long lasting girlfriend, Riley Matthews, they met on their first day of college, he had been living in New York for a week and got lost looking for his class. Luckily he asked the pretty brunette that was reading under a tree, she showed him around and they began dating after a few weeks, it felt like destiny. Now, two years later, she had decided it was time for her to find who she was in the world and left him for a scholarship in Europe.

His best friend, Zay, had spent the last two months convincing him to go out with him, any night. Eventually, this morning, Lucas thought that maybe it was enough, that he needed to stop feeling sorry for himself and go out and try to forget Riley even if it were for a few hours.

The thing was that the minute he set foot on this party he knew that it had been a terrible idea and he was going to leave immediately, but Zay dragged him in and promised that they would leave after one drink. That drink became two and then shots and now Lucas was still holding the cup of his first beer, untouched, and Zay was nowhere to be seen.

Lucas was trying to figure out how they had ended up in this party, where he didn't know a soul. They were on a duplex, located not on the best part of town, but it wasn't like they were going to be murdered out in the street. Still, he didn't want to risk it, being alone outside, Lucas was big and he could defend himself, but against a knife or a gun he was as helpless as a mouse.

How did Zay even found out about the party? Lucas knew that Zay's social circle was a little (lot) bigger than his, but they shared most of their classes and spent a lot of time together, how did he get an invite was still unbelievable.

"Lucas!" An Asian guy in a Mets cap touched his shoulder. "Zay says that he might take a while longer."

"You know Zay?" Lucas yelled over the music.

"His pizza deliverer goes to the same barber that my best friend's girlfriend's cousin goes to." He replied, Lucas was still making sense of what he said when someone else in the crowd called for the guy and he disappeared to another room.

Then Lucas remembered that he had to ask him where Zay was, he couldn't take any more of this, he had to leave this party. So Lucas gulped down his warm beer and left his comfortable spot on the wall, he said goodbye to the kissing couple next to him and entered the dancing crowd before he lost sight of the guy in the Mets cap.

Since he was tall he could see the cap moving around the house, he was still a few feet away, but there were so many people that just taking a step meant pushing at least five out of the way. He was stretching his arm to grab the guy's shoulder, when someone spilled a drink on him. Lucas stopped, disgusted, he looked at the drunk girl who was touching him as if her hands were going to absorb whatever it was that landed on him, but he had no time for this.

"Leave it!" He yelled at the girl, he brushed her hands away and made to follow Zay's friend again, thankfully the cap was still in the crowd.

He hurried along and in the matter of seconds he touched his way out of this hell. Except he didn't, he had grabbed a girl's arm, in the blue light both caps looked the same. He apologized and turned in circles trying to find him, but it was too late, he was nowhere near. Lucas found himself in the middle of the room, sweating more than ever, people stomping on him or pushing him, he was overwhelmed, his chest vibrated to the beat of the music.

Four guys, they seemed like the classic frat house squad, they positioned themselves on every corner of the room with two cans of beer each. They were shaking them, and Lucas knew what was coming, the next thing he felt was the rain of beer falling on top of him, everyone else seemed to enjoy the surprise.

He managed to escape that room, but not before his hair and the rest of his shirt were soaked in cheap beer. He couldn't take it anymore, he stole the shot out of someone's hand and drank it. He stole a bottle of whiskey from the kitchen and chugged it until he felt the slight buzz in his head, at least his headache was gone. He roamed across the rooms in search of his friend.

That's when he saw her.

The most beautiful girl he had ever laid his eyes on. He didn't know if it was the green light or the alcohol but her eyes were shining. They were blue, as clear as a pool, it reminded him of a little stream in his family's farm in Texas, or the color of they sky in a clear day of summer. His eyes traveled every inch of her body, she was wearing a long dress, a red floral dress, but the fabric seemed so light that he just knew that there was nothing else underneath, he wanted to rip it open and study her carefully with his eyes and with his mouth. She must've felt his heavy staring because when he reached her face again, her eyes were fixed on him.

He froze. Had she noticed the inappropriate look he was giving her? How drunk was him? Because the next second she was walking toward him, in a straight line, people seemed to move out of the way to let her pass.

When she was inches away she put her hands on his chest that slowly rose to his neck, she pulled his body down so her lips could touch his ear.

"You're not from here." She told him, he could hear every word clearly. "I like your look." She stepped back, waiting for his answer.

He was thankful for the lights because if they weren't there she would be able to see his crimson cheeks.

"You're beautiful." He replied awkwardly, loud enough so she could hear it over the music. She smiled and he did the same.

Without saying another word, she took something out of her cleavage, it was a pill. A blue pill. She bit down half and swallowed it. He frowned slightly when she placed the other half over the tip of her tongue, she lifted one eyebrow, she meant for him to take it.

"What's in it?" He asked, though he couldn't tell if she heard him. "I need to know." He told her, but she just took it inside her mouth and turned around. She was leaving, he had never done drugs before, Riley wouldn't let him, but he couldn't let this girl go. "Wait!" He yelled, she turned again, smiling mischievously.

She closed the space between them, putting her hand behind his head, she pulled him down and kissed him. When he opened his mouth to deepen the kiss she gave him half of the blue pill and kissed him until he had no choice but to swallow it. Then she broke the kiss, but he wanted more, her lips were full and soft, with a light taste of strawberry. She put a finger on his lips to stop him, instead she took his hand and pulled him to the middle of the room.

Here the music felt louder, she began dancing in front of him. He started to move with her, enjoying every move she made, he put his hands on her hips and she turned around, her back pressed to him. Her hair smelled like a mix of perfume and sweat, it was intoxicating. He moved to her neck, sucking the skin between her teeth, his hands holding her tight against him.

Then all at once his heart was trapped in his ears, the music had disappeared, he opened his eyes. Everything seemed to move in slow motion, he looked down at the blonde girl, her hands tangled in her hair, she had to be feeling this too. She turned around and clinged to his neck as she threw her head back and looked at everything upside down. When she came back up, she pulled him instantly to her lips, something burst inside of him, the music slowly making its way back to his ears.

The next time he opened his eyes, his head was still pounding, but his lips were touching the floor.

He opened his eyes, to find himself in the floor of a painfully bright living room. He slowly turned around, he needed water, his tongue felt coarse as sandpaper. He stood up, falling on the couch immediately after, on the second try he managed to get to the sink and stayed under the tap until he could feel his thoughts clearing out. What had happened?

He was only in his underwear, he had to be in that girl's apartment, that was the last thing that he remembered from yesterday, he didn't even know when they got a taxi. Did he ever found Zay? He had to call Zay. He searched around the living room, but he didn't find his clothes nor his phone anywhere, maybe they were in her room, she was probably still there.

He opened the only door in the apartment, besides the bathroom, but there was no one inside. That was until someone hit him in the back and he plummeted to the ground.

When he woke up, he had been turned around and a baseball bat was on top of his face. He instinctively covered his face with his hands.

"Stop!" He told his attacker.

"Where is all my stuff?" A familiar voice asked, he opened his eyes to find the blonde from the party wearing a blue silk bathrobe.

Then what she said finally reached his brain and he looked around the room. This was definitely a man's room, but it wasn't his.

"I don't live here." He said, standing up and pushing away the bat, he began looking around the room for any indication of where were they.

"What do you mean you don't live here? How did I get here?" She asked, not dropping her weapon.

"I don't know, that's what I'm trying to figure out!" He wanted to remember, but he couldn't, he was dancing and then he was here, he was just beginning to feel the effects of the pill. The pill! That's it! He walked towards her, menacingly, she extended her bat. "What was on that pill you gave me?"

Her eyes widened, like everything that was happening finally had an explanation.

"It was just supposed to make you happy." She said, defensively. "The guy that gave me the pill said so."

"What guy?" He asked, but she looked lost. "Do you know his name?" She shook her head. "You took a pill from a stranger?!" He said, furious.

"Why are you yelling at me?" She raised her voice too. "You did the same when you took that red pill from me!"

"I'm yelling because I woke up in a stranger's house, with–" He stopped suddenly, frowning. "Red? The pill you gave me was blue."

"Well, I'm pretty sure it was red." She told him, placing her hands on her hips.

"We can't both be sure." He added.

"I know I'm right because the guy that gave me the pill was dressed like The Matrix and offered me a red pill and a blue one and I picked the red because that's the one that wakes you up." He stood frozen for a second, because for some reason it made complete sense what she was trying to say, he didn't doubt that she was telling the truth, but he was 100% sure what pill he had consumed.

"You may have picked the red one, but I'm telling you that we had the blue one." He said, honestly.

She stood there thinking, it was impossible, unless... Her eyes widened.

"That guy... he kissed my hand after he gave me... Oh my God, he switched the pills..." She sat down at the edge of the bed, massaging her temples.

Lucas couldn't believe it, he had been druged and now he had lost at least four hours of his life. The worst part was that he still had no clothes and no idea of his location, for all he knew he could be in Philadelphia.

"We should get out of here, find our way home." He said, opening the closet in the room, looking for any clothes that could fit him, they were all too small.

They heard the front door close, he pulled the girl behind him and took the bat from her. He put a finger to his lips. Slowly, Lucas walked out of the room.

The guy that was in the kitchen was small, very curly hair, if it wasn't because he had tattoos on his arms he would've thought it was Zay.

"Stop right there!" Lucas said, stepping out of the shadows, and grabbing the guy's neck from behind. He lifted his hands to the air.

"Woah, woah, Lucas, what's up dude?" He said, trying to break free of his grip.

"How do yo know my name? Where are we?" He asked, Maya was poking her head from out the hall.

"What do you mean 'How I know your name?', we met yesterday at the party! I brought you and Maya home! I brought you guys coffee!" He pointed at three cups from Starbucks sitting on the counter.

Lucas frowned and finally let go of him, he massaged his neck.

"We met at the party?" He asked again, gripping the bat thighter.

"Yes, you don't remember?" Lucas was trying to, but he denied with his head. "You were pretty wasted, so I brought you here, you and your girl took the bed and I slept in the couch."

"Where's Zay?" He asked, he needed to call him, he could drive to pick him up, probably give this Maya a ride and everything would go back to normal.

"Who's Zay?" The other guy asked.

"It was a friend that came with me to the party." He explained.

"That's not possible, I only saw you with Maya and that skinny white dude with the weird name." He must've seen the lost expression on Lucas' face. "The one that kept jumping into the pool."

"There was no pool in the house." Maya said, coming out of the hall, thightening her robe. The guy seemed frustrated, but was trying his best to keep calm. "Who are you?" She asked, staying behind Lucas.

"I'm Nate, I'll tell you what, let's drop the bat–" He said, reaching for it carefully, Lucas let go reluctantly. "That's it, let's sit down and drink our coffee, I also brought some bagels and I will tell you what happened yesterday."

He continued to update them on the last few hours, apparently they had come to a different party together with the tall skinny guy with weird name, this party was in the penthouse of the Archangel Building uptown. Nate had a friend there and that's why he was there, all three of them did shots together and swam on the pool, but then both Lucas and Maya had thrown up and since they couldn't tell him where they lived, he decided it was better if he brought them to his apartment, it was around three in the morning when he had put them to bed.

Lucas apologized for how he grabbed his neck and then they proceeded to tell him that they had been drugged and couldn't remember what had happened after 11.

"Where are our clothes?" Maya asked, finishing her bagel and her third glass of water.

"I don't know, you were on the pool with that bikini on when we met." He pointed at the black string that was showing up on her shoulder. She readjusted the robe. "When I asked you about them you just said that they were next to your rum and coke." He laughed a little. "This is crazy."

"Tell me about it." Lucas said, the headache was finally gone, but now it was time to figure out what to do next, he couldn't just forget four hours of his life and live with it, he needed to know what had happened.

"Do you want me to call you an Uber?" Nate offered.

"You can call her one, I'm going to that building to see if I can find out anything else about last night." Lucas said.

"Excuse me, who do you think you are?" Maya interrupted. "If you're going to that building, then I'm coming with you."

"I don't think that's a good idea." He told her, he saw Maya as weight that would slow his search down.

"I don't care, this didn't just happen to you Huckleberry, it happened to me too and I want to get to the end of it." She spoke the final word, it sounded like she had made up her mind and nothing would change her decision.

Lucas clenched his jaw, he didn't know her at all, they kissed once, she drugged him, he still blamed her for what had happened, even though he had done the same thing and grabbed the pill from her, now they were stuck in this mess together.

"Do you have some clothes we can borrow?" He asked Nate, he smiled.

Now they were going up on the elevator of the Archangel Building, Lucas was trying to pull his pants down, they were constraining him in all the wrong places, his shirt was sleeveless and reached his belly button (since none of the others fit any better) and he was wearing small sandals.

"Would you stop? The guard was already looking at us all weird." Maya said, looking at the floors pass by.

It was true, they both looked like they had swapped outfits. Maya had one of the sneakers cords holding her pants up, her shirt covered half of her thighs and with the shoes she was wearing she looked like a clown. Nate was kind enough to let them shower, he turned out to be a really cool guy, he gave them his phone number and address in a paper so they could return the clothes.

When the doors of the elevator opened there was someone waiting for them.

"Maya and Lucas! I'm glad you're back." The man said, he had a french accent, he seemed well in his thirties, but he ringed no memories. Lucas and Maya exchanged the same lost look and then smiled at their host. "Come, come, I've asked them to plate our breakfast outside."

They followed him to where the pool was, there was a man fishing out cups floating in the water. Then Lucas remembered Maya coming from upstairs with a bikini on, he was waiting for her already in his underwear and then they jumped to the pool, there was a lot of people in the party. For some reason the smell of the chlorine reminded him of Maya's hair and the taste of her skin, he cleared his throat, it wasn't the time to think about that. He looked at the water and remembered having a chicken fight, with Maya on his shoulders, but he couldn't place the face of their opponents.

"Sit, sit." Their friend said, the table was filled with food, a plate of fruit, a basket of bread, there was a chef next to the table with an omelette station. "Coffee?" He asked them.

"Please." They said at the same time, they exchanged looks, but quickly turned away. The strap of her bathing suit was still visible and he could picture her walking downstairs.

"You had a crazy night." His host brought his attention back, he ordered a woman to serve the coffee.

"You have no idea." Maya said, grabbing her plate and filling it up with fruit and cheese and bread. Lucas did the same, the sounds his stomach was doing made it seem like he hadn't eaten anything for days. Meanwhile Maya told their host what had happened last night in the first party and the events of that morning.

Phillipe, who they found out owned the penthouse _and_ the entire building, said that they arrived around midnight but when he had asked them with whom, they simply replied Pippin, but he didn't know any Pippins, so he assumed they had crashed the party, but they were so much fun that he didn't mind.

"Ah! Here we go." He said, making a gesture to the butler who had just arrived. "I believe these are yours." The man in the suit gave them their clothes.

Lucas and Maya were beaming, he had his pants, shoes and shirt back and she recuperated her red flowered dress. Unfortunately, neither his wallet or his phone were with his belongings, what he found instead was a receipt for a dry cleaner, he smelled his shirt.

"Phillipe, did you wash these?" Lucas asked, passing the paper to Maya so she could read it.

"No, I just put them away, like you asked last night." He replied, fishing out the strawberry from his champagne glass.

"These smell clean." He said, turning to Maya. "Yesterday at party number 1 I was sprayed with beer, I must've washed my clothes in this laundry." He pointed at the ticket.

"Then that's our next stop." She told him.

"Phillipe, we have to go, could you do us a favor?" Lucas asked with a smile on his face, they were closer to solving this mistery.

The address took them to Chinatown, their new friend borrowed them his driver, with the promise that they would come for dinner on Monday. Now, they were standing in front of a 24 hour dry cleaner and they were wearing their regular clothes.

"You two again." The lady in the register welcomed them.

"Hi," Maya said, "Do you remember us?"

"Of course I remember you, you're in the banned wall." She pointed at the wall behind her where several Polaroids were pasted, one of them had a shirtless Lucas and a Maya with a bedsheet covering her body. They frowned.

"How did that happen?" Lucas whispered.

"We just want to know if we left our phones here." Maya said.

"No, you leave now." She replied angrily.

"We don't want any trouble ma'am, we can't remember what we did last night and we're trying to figure it out." Lucas said, trying to keep calm.

"I don't know, even if I did, I wouldn't help you." The woman said, crunching her face. Maya jumped on the counter, Lucas reacted quickly and lifted her up.

"Listen to me now, I've had a pretty shitty morning trying to remember what the fuck we did last night so you either tell us what we did or I will stand outside your store all day and keep the costumers away." Maya warned her, trying to get out of Lucas' grip.

The woman seemed offended by Maya's reaction, but for some reason Lucas also thought that she looked impressed.

"You two come at midnight, your dress dirty with orange chicken–" She pointed at Maya. "–and you smelled like beer. So I clean clothes for you, you give me fifty dollars, I even borrow you sheet to cover yourself. When I come back with clean clothes you were doing filthy stuff in my store!" She told them, furious, Maya stopped fighting and Lucas let her go, suddenly aware of his hands on her hips. "So I took your picture and you can't come anymore."

"We had sex here?" Maya asked bluntly, the woman opened her eyes and looked around to check if someone had heard her.

"No, none of that, but a lot of kissing and touching." She said in a whisper. "Now get out and don't come back!"

They walked out, purposely avoiding each other's gaze. Now they had nothing to keep going, the woman didn't know where they came from and wouldn't help anymore. Lucas was still trying to figure out how they ended up in the middle of Chinatown, they must've taken the subway or grabbed a cab, what also didn't click for him was how they got a fifty dollar bill, he was pretty sure he didn't have more than twenty bucks in his wallet and Maya didn't seem to be carrying any purse.

"How did we even get the money?" Maya asked, mirroring his thoughts.

"I don't know, I didn't have that much money yesterday, I don't even know where my wallet is." Lucas said, sitting on the edge of the sidewalk, defeated. "How did we get from here all the way uptown, how did we get from the party to Chinatown? We don't know anything!" He said, exasperated. "We're stuck."

"Wait a second." She opened her eyes, against the light they looked so blue, it seemed like they had a light of their own. She began pacing the floor. "That woman said that I had orange chicken in my dress, that means that we had just eaten, so we just have to find the restaurant that served orange chicken yesterday."

Lucas laughed, she frowned and hit the back of his neck.

"Ouch!" He complained, rubbing his head.

"What's so funny?" She asked.

"You want to find the place that serves orange chicken? We're in Chinatown! Every restaurant serves orange chicken! And even out of here there are hundreds of other places that serve it too." He exclaimed.

"That's a little racist." She said, before walking away, Lucas frowned and stood up quickly to follow her.

"I'm racist?!" He asked, catching up. "What about Huckleberry or Ranger Rick or Hopalong? The names you've been calling me for the past three hours!" He couldn't believe her, she was so annoying and stubborn, why did she have to fight everyone. "Where are you going?"

"To ask every god-damned restaurant in the city." She yelled at him, before running inside the first door on her left. Lucas waited for her outside, looking at Maya through the window, maybe he should leave and walk all the way to his apartment to locate Zay and ask him what had happened. But it didn't matter how much he tried, he knew that he wouldn't just leave Maya alone, stranded in Chinatown. "They didn't have them."

Lucas sighed, they kept trying along the street, Lucas on one side and Maya on the other, but none of the places recognized them. He was starting to think that maybe they had gone the wrong way, maybe they needed to go up, he was tired, getting hungry again and he thought that it would be better to go home and keep looking tomorrow.

He was waiting under the shadow of a building while Maya checked the last place of that block. She came storming out.

"Fuuuuuck!" She screamed at the sky, covering her face and an exasperated scream with her hands. Lucas crossed to her side, knowing that it was another dead end.

"We should turn back, I don't think we would've walked that far from the restaurant, specially in the state we were." He put a hand on her shoulder, thankfully she didn't recoil from his touch.

They made their way back up, passing the dry cleaner, but their motivation had been lost somewhere along the street. They didn't have the energy to enter each restaurant, so they just walked trying to find something that would bring back any memory of last night.

The trip was awfully quiet, he couldn't get the images from her in the bikini at the party, or how he held the sheet around her while she changed. It was a strange feeling, sharing so many things with a person that he didn't know.

"Wait, Maya." He said, pulling her elbow. "I think we started in a wrong place, and not just literally." She rolled her eyes, but he knew that she liked the joke. "We were banned from a dry cleaner for indecency, we are friends with a french millionaire and who knows what else we did and yet I don't even know your last name–"

"Hart, my name is Maya Hart." She told him. Lucas smiled, the desperation in her eyes had disappeared, the hard marks on her face softened.

"It's nice to meet you again, I'm Lucas Friar." He extended his hands, she snorted at the courtsy, but still she took it. This was the first time they had introduced one another, last night wasn't supposed to be more than that, one night, it had now become a scavenger hunt for their lost time.

Their hands slowly moved up and down, that's when he knew that he wasn't the only one thinking about it. If her eyes could speak they would be calling his name. They weren't acquaintances anymore, they were friends? Sort of... He was not sure, specially after the memories had been flooding his thoughts since the morning. He could feel the adrenaline rushing through his body, he remembered the feeling, just like when she ran her hands against his chest and pulled him down the night before. As he began moving forward, a stranger passed next to them, winning their attention for a second before returning to each other. His hands easily found her hips, his eyes lost on hers.

"The cat!" She yelled out of nowhere, she pushed him aside and ran away. She left him perplexed in the sidewalk, what had just happened? He blinked a couple times, trying to order his thoughts before he ran after her, the day kept getting weirder by the second.

He reached the first corner, his focus immediately called by the loud words of a tiny blonde that was pulling the bag of some man. Lucas quickly reached the scene.

"What the hell is going on?" He asked, upset.

"Help me get this crazy woman off of my food." The man told him, desperately, Lucas recognized him as the man that had passed them by a few minutes ago.

"I just need to see his bag!" Maya yelled, pulling on a plastic bag that was about to break. Then he focused on the logo on the bag, it was a satisfied fat cat and it all became clear to Lucas, that was the logo of the restaurant that they were looking for.

His heart began pounding, Lucas intervened and grabbed the wrist of the man, he squeezed just in the right way and the man yelled in pain, giving Maya the perfect window of time to take the bag away from him.

"Number 40, Mullberry St., got it, we can go now." She told him, pulling Lucas' arm, he let go of the stranger and apologized for the food and the wrist, but the man didn't care, he was yelling obscenities until they were no longer on his proximity.

"I can't believe we have a clue." She said excitedly, she bit her lower lip and looked at him who was following close behind, their hands still interlocked, she let go immediately and placed a hand in his chest to stop him. "I'm sorry I ran away like that." A little color had reached her cheeks.

"If you hadn't we'd be back in square one." He told her, understandably.

"I'll tell you what, _maybe_ after we get our memories back..." She began. "And only if you turn out to be not a complete Huckleberry," She pointed her finger out, he raised his brow, trying to hold in a smile. "Then _maybe_ I'll buy you a cup of coffee."

He rolled his eyes but accepted her terms, pointing out that he had no control over his Texan roots. She snorted, pushing her elbow against him playfully.

"Azuki! Kikei!" The waiters in the restaurant yelled when they entered the place. "We've been waiting for you."

"You're Suzuki?" Maya whispered at Lucas as they made their way to the register.

"Then you are Keychain." He said back, just as he put on a smile to the man behind the bar. "Hey there! We were wondering if you had any of our belongings?"

"Yes, we were wondering when you would show up, you left in such a hurry." Maya and Lucas looked at each other and sighed, knowing that it was time again to tell their story.

It went down a little different this time, just as they finished explaining to the man in the registry, he called one of the waiters so they could tell it to him and when they were done, they called in more of their buddies, the chef was there too, and so they told their story for the tenth time that day. When they were finished, there was no more audience to call upon, so their Japanese friends laughed at them, and they laughed for a good time, some were cleaning the tears coming out of their eyes, some were saying words they did not understand, Maya clenched her fists, hungry and annoyed by their mocking. Luckily, Lucas was there to stop her explosive behavior, he placed a hand over her knee, she looked at him with a mix of surprise and thankfulness, she breathed deeply and relaxed.

When the joke had finally passed, a guy brought them a box, it contained Lucas' wallet and both of their phones, they were obviously out of battery, yet they didn't care, this was a victory after a whole day of bad luck.

Yuri, the man that had greeted them served them a plate from the buffet, he told them what had happened the night before when they arrived at the restaurant. They had come around 11:30, Maya stormed the place asking for four plates of food for the group, the skinny guy was with them. They seated on a booth and they had sang karaoke with the waiters and were having fun until Maya spilled food on her dress and freaked out and she ran out saying that they'd be back.

"You two ran from the restaurant, we thought that you ran to avoid paying, but the little shrimp payed for you and went after you." He finished, stealing a shrimp from Maya's plate.

"Do you know this guy's name?" Lucas asked him.

"No," he said disappointed, "but he paid with card!" Maya's face lightened up, she grabbed Yuri's head and kissed his forehead.

"Yuri, you're a genius!" He pulled back in shock, Lucas and Maya laughed and without saying anything else he began digging through the receipts. Meanwhile, Lucas ate at least seven spring rolls, they bonded with the staff, they even showed them how they made the Soba noodles.

"I got it!" Yuri called them. "You're looking for a Fur-quell Min... Minki..."

"Wait, let me see that." Lucas told him, Yuri handed him the piece of paper, his brow lifted in surprise.

"What?" Maya asked.

"It says here that Farkle Minkus payed for our dinner." He stated.

"Minkus? As in Minkus Enterprises?" Maya couldn't believe it, they had shared a table with the VP of the leading technology company in the world, not only that he had paid for their food and probably for their dry cleaning.

"Don't they have a building downtown?" Lucas asked, returning the receipt to their new friend.

"Yes, that's where we should go next!" Maya exclaimed.

Now that they had rescued Lucas' wallet, they used his metro card to move, they were in front of one the tallest building in the Manhattan skyline in less than 30 minutes. With their stomachs full and a new lead, they felt motivated once again, at least for a little while.

"Don't come in again or I'll have to call the cops." The guard told them as he pushed them outside of the lobby. He stood on the door until they walked away.

"Did you really have to make a scene?" Lucas asked Maya annoyed.

"He was being a little asshole." She defended her reaction, Lucas sighed, now knowing better than to fight with her. "Besides you heard him say that Farkle wasn't in the building."

"Me, unlike _you_ , while you were on his back, trying to take him down, I guess..." Lucas began.

"Yeah, thanks for your help with that..." Maya interrupted.

"Well, instead of being a dum-dum, I got this." He took a small card from his pocket, Maya grabbed it to inspect it, it was Farkle's contact info. She looked at him annoyed by his shit eating grin, but he knew that she was a little impressed.

"If it hadn't been for my distraction you wouldn't have gotten it." She added, walking towards the street.

"Where are you going?" He asked, falling behind her. A little tires of her running off without sharing her lead.

"To borrow a phone." Maya explained, entering the store on the other side of the street, they were kind enough to let her make a call. Lucas needed to communicate with Zay, but he didn't know his number and they had more pressing business at the moment. "Hi–" Maya's voice changed, it was higher. "This is Claire, I'm the new assistant and I completely forgot to write down the place of the three o'clock meeting with Mr. Minkus, can you remind... Oh, _Firenze_ , perfect, thank you so much, you just saved my job. Okay, bye!" She hanged up, Lucas had his eyebrows lifted, he had to admit that she was good.

"Great, so now we just have to sneak in a restaurant." It wasn't any restaurant, Firenze was the hottest Italian restaurant of the moment, not that Lucas would ever try it, but he had heard some girls talk about it some weeks before, the waiting list was approximately seven months and its prices were way out of budget for a struggling student like him.

"Come on, we're going to be late." Maya told Lucas, pulling his collar.

"It's not like they're just going to let us walk in." He said, fixing his shirt as the hurried down the subway stairs.

"Of course they will, they are expecting us for our 3 o'clock meeting with Mr. Minkus." She simply said, not waiting on him to enter the train that was about to leave, he barely managed to get in before the door crushed his leg. Maya was quick to improvise, she was so sure that this would work that every event seemed to align to satisfy her needs.

They passed through a perfume store on their way there, to put on some samples, Maya fixed her hair in a bun in the bathroom and Lucas tucked in his button down shirt. She told the hostess the same lie without hesitating.

"He's expecting you." She told them, grabbing three menus and walking to their table. Maya turned to look at Lucas and lifted her brow, very proud of herself. There he was, the guy they had been hearing of since the morning, made flesh. They were only missing around 40 minutes of their night and Farkle had to be the one that spent that time with them.

The face he made when he saw them was unforgettable, suddenly Lucas remembered pushing Farkle in the pool, he could put a face to the guy who was sitting in front of him at the restaurant, who sang kareoke with Maya, he remembered how he gave them $50 for their clothes like it was nothing.

"What are you guys doing here?" He asked, sitting back down on his chair and taking a sip of his drink.

"You have a lot to explain." Maya told him, pulling the arm of a waiter. "Hi, can I have a double expresso, Lucas do you want something?" She asked him.

"Oh, um... I'll have a lemonade." He ordered. "Thanks."

"Now, _Farkle_ , listen carefully because I've told this story far too many times today and I'm officially sick of hearing it." She basically told him a condensed version of the events that had transpired since they woke up, Farkle didn't interrupt, he just sat thoughtfully in front of them.

"I didn't know you were under the influence of some drug, I honestly thought you were just a little tipsy." He said after she was done. "We met... it's kind of embarrassing. I was rehearsing some lines for a play I'm working on in the private park near Jefferson Street–"

"I love that park." Maya interrupted. "I used to sneak in all the time."

"And you did again, last night, you walked on me dancing, you were about to walk away but I stopped you." Farkle explained, scratching the back of his neck, avoiding their eyes. "It's not easy for me to make friends, but you were so nice and sat through my song, so I invited you to dinner and to the party I was going afterwards, then your dress got stained and you ran from the restaurant, Lucas and I had to chase you a couple of blocks." He laughed silently. "We had a lot of fun at the party, but then you just left and nobody could tell me with whom so I just assumed you had left me."

"You were dancing..." Maya said, narrowing her eyes. "Tap dancing." She clarified, then their eyes shot wide open.

"Pippin!" They said a little louder than they expected, people were looking at their table, Lucas apologized to a couple of tables and then returned to their conversation. Farkle was Pippin, just like they had introduced him as to Phillipe.

"Yeah, I remember the party now and everything at the restaurant, but the park it's a little unclear..." Lucas told him.

"Perhaps that's because it was just after you had consumed the pill." He offered the most reasonable explanation. "And if you only had half each, then it must have been a very strong pill for half to have such an effect on you guys." He narrowed his eyes, scratching his chin, looking nowhere in particular. "My best guess is that this Matrix guy wanted to drug Maya, and not only that, but he knew that if she took the entire pill she wouldn't remember anything from the night before."

Maya's mouth fell open, she had never pictured an scenario where the short ugly guy dressed as Morpheus just wanted to take advantage of her. She only thought that he had done this to them just for the fun of it, but she had forgotten that she was alone when she had received the pill. She clenched her fists, digging the nails deep in her hands, she was furious. This was no longer a trip to recover her memories, it had just become a revenge plot, because no one could play with Maya Hart and get away with it.

"Maya?" Lucas asked, putting his hand on top of hers, the heat from his skin brought her back to the restaurant. "Are you okay?"

"I need to find this guy." She told him, looking at the small specks of gold in his eyes.

"We will." He said, reassuringly, squeezing her hand. She managed to make a small smile. He had to remind her that she wasn't alone in this position, he had been drugged too, although that part was her fault, after all they had been through she needed to understand that he was not leaving her out to dry.

"What's our next stop?" Maya asked, looking between Farkle and Lucas. "I mean, we know that we went to the park after the first party and every stop after that, but how are we going to find this guy."

"I know someone that can help." Lucas interrupted, it was finally time that they paid a little visit to his best friend.

He took her to his apartment, Zay was his roommate after all, it was most likely that he'd be there and if not they could charge their phones and call him. Luckily, for them, there he was opening the front door.

"Dude!" He exclaimed, when he saw Lucas at the door. "I've been calling you all day where the hell have you been?! I was starting to call everyone I know, I was worried sick, you can't do that to me." He went rambling on, then his eyes fell on Maya and his face changed. "Oh, I see you weren't in bad company, hey Sugar, I'm Isaiah Babinoux, mostly known as Zay." He extended his hand to receive Maya's and kiss her knuckles. Maya rolled her eyes.

"Alright, let's go inside." Lucas pushed him in, a little annoyed by his whole show. "Zay, this is Maya, he's the one that dragged me to the party. Maya is the one who drugged me at the party." Zay snorted at the joke.

"Here we go again... I didn't know I was drugging you with an unknown pill!" Maya defended herself.

"You took a pill from a stranger dressed as the Matrix, it couldn't have been any sketchier!" Lucas fought back. "I'm not trying to blame you, I'm just saying you don't take unknown pills from strangers." Maya opened her mouth, offended.

"Yeah, like you did when you took that pill from me, or am I not the stranger danger you should be worrying about because I was wearing a dress and you were horny?!" She replied madly.

"Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait!" Zay yelled, getting between them. The other two fell silent and looked at each other briefly before looking at Zay. "What the fuck?" He asked. "You were really drugged?" He was lost and it was time again for story time, Lucas told what had happened, this time with all the details up until half an hour ago when they were sitting down in one of the fanciest restaurants in New York.

"That's why we need your help." Lucas continued. "If there is someone that might have any information on that Matrix guy it has to be you, you know half of New York."

It took him a few minutes to understand everything, he still looked a little dumbfounded when he asked about the ride on Phillipe's limo.

"So let me get this straight one more time." He said, Maya and Lucas sighed loudly, this was their third time going over the crazy story. "You were drugged in our party, sneaked to a private park were you met one of Forbes' 30 under 30, then you had dinner with him in Chinatown, you were banned from a dry cleaner for inappropriate conduct, then you went to another party were you befriended the host and owner of the building and you woke up at a strangers apartment, and that was all last night because today you've eaten like kings, ridden a limo, sneaked in a restaurant and harassed a man on the street." He finished a little out of air.

"Well, harassed is a strong word it was more like a suggestive questioning." Maya added. "Although, Hopalong here almost broke his wrist."

"I wasn't going to break his wrist, he needed a little pressure that's all." Lucas said, folding his arms.

"And I'm the hot headed?" She asked teasing him.

"Man, I still can't believe I missed all of that." Zay told them with a disappointed look.

"Oh, yeah, too bad you didn't get drugged with us too, it was such a bonding experience." Maya said sarcastically.

"Any idea on who could be the guy we're looking for?" Lucas asked him.

"I don't exactly remember seeing him, I was rather busy, but if he was selling drugs and in such a costume someone must have noticed him." He grabbed his phone and began making calls to people that had been at the party.

Meanwhile, Maya and Lucas reconnected with their phones, she had to call her roommate to let her know that she was fine, also where she was and that she didn't know what time she would be coming home. Maya still looked worried, he could feel her very concentrated on a not that interesting wall.

"We're going to find him, Zay knows everybody, then we'll call the police on him but not before you can have your piece with him." Lucas said, supportively.

"I was such an idiot." She laughed, tears forming in her eyes. "I've lived here all my life, I know this city like the palms of my hands, I can't believe that I was so stupid to believe that because of that I was safer than other girls."

"Don't say that, you were drunk, you made a foolish mistake, I made the same mistake and I'm always terrified of the city." He made her laugh, she cleaned her eyes before the tears could go down her cheeks.

"I have something." Zay said rushing in the living room with a post it on his hand.

Apparently, a friend of the guy who had lended the coolers to the guy in charge of the kegs had had a complaint from his girlfriend that a weird guy all dressed in black had been creepy all night, so Zay talked to the dealer of his yoga partner's neighbor and he immediately recognized this Matrix fellow and surely enough Zay now had the address of his usual spot.

"What are you going to do when you see him?" Lucas asked her on the Uber, as they made their way to the intersection.

"I don't know yet." She said, she had ditched the dress and borrowed some clothes from both Zay and Lucas, sweatpants and an oversized sweater was much better for the approaching night. "But Lucas..."

"What?" He asked a bit surprised to hear his real name come out from her lips.

"I might need you to hold him down for me." She added, visibly upset. Lucas smiled at the idea, he wasn't very fond of his aggressive side, but this asshole really deserved it.

When they reached the intersection, surely enough, there was a guy dressed with a long black jacket and black sunglasses, his hair was slicked back with a at least a cup of gel. Zay had talked to his friend in the police and had told him about the drug dealer, he had promised them 10 minutes alone with him before he sent a dispatch to the intersection.

"I sent the text to Luke," Zay began. "So what's the plan?" But before he could finish his sentence Maya had already gotten out of the car.

"Fuck!" Lucas said, going after her.

"Hey, asshole!" Maya called him. "Remember me? Because I sure as hell remember you."

By the time he recognized her it was too late, Maya punched the glasses out of his face. Lucas reached the scene and grabbed the guy by the arm, applying a lock on his shoulder that made him scream in pain, forcing him to be on his knees, practically kneeling in front of Maya.

"You move and I'll break your arm." Lucas warned him, Maya was breathing heavily.

"Do you know who I am now?" Maya asked again, but the guy just burst out in tears. "You tried to drugged the wrong woman, pal. I want to know how many other times you've done it." But the guy just kept weeping.

"Answer her." Lucas said in a very low voice, pushing on his lock just a little bit.

"Ow!" The guy yelled, he was sobbing. "Please don't break my arm, I didn't mean to drug you, I didn't know she was going to split the pill."

"That wasn't the question." Lucas told him, the guy cried out when he pulled his arm back again.

"I don't know how many!" He finally gave up, Maya was furious. The sirens could be heard in the distance. "I've lost track."

"Let him go Lucas." Maya said suddenly.

"What?" He asked, frowning. "He wanted to rape you!"

"I know that!" She said with teary eyes. "But look at him, he's nothing, he doesn't deserve this attention, tomorrow he'll be rotting in jail and all of his victims will finally a feel a little more safe."

Lucas let go of the lock and the guy dropped to the floor, holding his arm closely to his chest. The cops arrived a few seconds later.

"It was the only way... They won't even remember." He said, trying to get back up.

"Oh, shut up." Lucas punched him back to the ground. The cops told them to get away from the suspect, he continued weeping as they loaded him in the car, he still had three bags of coke in his pockets, enough to send him to jail and they would need Maya's statement to complete his other charges, but that could be done the next day, right now she just wanted to be home.

Lucas walked Maya to her apartment, she thanked Zay for all the help and he promised that they should do it again some other time, hopefully with him included.

"What a day!" Lucas told her, holding her bag of frozen peas over her sore hand. She laughed, feeling finally free as she sat on the counter, letting Lucas take care of her.

"No one ever tells you how much it hurts to sucker punch someone." She told him, tracing soft lines over his bruised knuckles.

"It was one hell of a punch you gave him though, must've felt pretty good." He said.

"It felt amazing!" She admitted, he laughed, knowing exactly how she felt, it was definitely worth the pain. "Thanks for your help, I wouldn't have found him if it wasn't for you, and also for sticking with me, not just now, but all day. I know I'm not the easiest person..." He snorted, and she pushed him a little teasingly. "But what I was trying to say before I was so rudely interrupted is that you are a good guy."

"Does that mean that you owe me a cup of coffee?" He asked with a shit eating grin.

But before she could answer he put the bag on the counter and moved forward, settling between her legs, bringing his lips to hers.

"Took you long enough." She told him, when they finally broke apart.

"I tried to do it earlier before I was so rudely interrupted." She bit her lip and pulled him down on the counter.

They still had many memories to bring back to life.


End file.
